What I Learned at the Battle of Black Jack

As I approached the marker, Ghost Radar told me to "avoid".  Avoid what?  The path ahead was well maintained and easy to navigate.  There were a number of historical markers I wanted to see, and a nice 3-board display explaining what had happened where I stood.

Where I stood was in Baldwin, Kansas.  I had driven here to see my nephew (hi, Chris) graduate from college. Baldwin is a very, very small town.  Baker College is its primary draw for visitors; that and the Battle of Black Jack.  On June 2, 1856, the anti-slavery forces of John Brown attacked the encampment of Henry C. Pate.  The battle was a culmination of a series of events that had happened across Kansas.  Businesses were burned, printing presses from the local newspapers had been ruined to shut down the papers; people were murdered and others were kidnapped.  Many historians believe that these events actually were the start of the Civil War.

What had caused all this grief?  Well, the Congress of the US had passed the Kansas-Nebraska act, which told the states to decide if they wanted to enter the union as a free- or slave-state.  All this caused a divide in the citizens.  Both pro- and anti-slavery forces rushed in trying to change minds and establish a culture in favor of one or the other.

As I had travelled down the trail Ghost Radar gave me "refer" "Chicago".  People from the North had flooded into Kansas to make sure that it did not become a Slave State.  I got "look", "angry" and "frightened" - no doubt the energy of the battle and participants lingered.  I also got "situation" "wild" and "complex".  As I look out over the site, I was amazed that even though there was no one killed in battle, the residual energy defined what had happened and what was going on. You read right - even though no one was killed at the Battle of Black Jack, Ghost Radar found something to pick up.  Have the programmers of this app proven something that ghost hunters and psychics have discussed for years - events, especially those filled with strong emotion, have a residual energy.  Is this energy a portal for people who were involved in the event to touch this dimension?  Right now I have more questions than answers.

While slavery was a point of division over 150 years ago, we have a divided nation today. While someone may say that slavery was more a critical or serious issue, all we have to do is look around us today and see people reacting to our current state of affairs with inappropriate, and in some cases, violent behavior.

  Yes, the situation was "wild" and "complex", but are things not "wild and complex" for America right now? Do we want to have a campaign season that goes from nasty words to nasty deeds? All of a sudden, I got a cosmic clue about the word, "avoid".  Can we avoid the division that is causing so much trouble in this country?  I think the Battle of Black Jack is telling us that it would be the smart thing to do.